Aplicación de los SIG al estudio integral de las energías renovables en la comarca de la Sierra de Alcaraz y el Campo de Montiel (Albacete)

The present study analyzed the integration of renewable energies (RE) into rural areas. As study area, the comarca “La Sierra de Alcaraz y el Campo de Montiel” (SACAM), within the province of Albacete (ES) was chosen. This area bears a wide variety of physical conditions, but is at the same time very suitable for applying various types of RE. Within its extension of 3665 km² it currently counts 32 wind parks and one solar park, summing up to a total installed capacity of more than 1 GW. Most of the produced energy is exported to other regions. The unemployment rate in SACAM hit 35 % in 2010. The energy types considered here are wind energy, solar photovoltaics, as well as biogas production and direct combustion of biomass. In analyzing suitable areas for setting up RE in SACAM’s territory, Geographic Information Systems (GIS) have been deployed as main tool for this study. They allowed to execute a spatial analysis which considered next to the use of local resources a number of potential negative impacts that may result from the use of RE in this area. Hence, its capacities have been first critically compared with the impacts of RE; and in an additional step exclusion zones for RE have been subtracted. Results indicate the energy types which suit best in each location, according to the amount of energy that can be obtained from each of them. In total, 59% of SACAMs’ territory is suitable for the deployment of the analyzed RE. The largest share of suitable surfaces takes solar photovoltaics (29 %), followed bybiomass for the production of biogas (13 %), biomass for direct combustion (9 %), and wind energy (8 %). Based on these results, proposals were made for the location of power plants throughout the territory. In that last step, also socio-economic aspects, such as unemployment rates of the municipalities have been considered. Other proposals aim at improving the energy infrastructure and the creation of local employment.